Art never dies
by pandoralovey
Summary: Rose and Dimitri are found dead. But something isn't right. Lots of twists. rewrite*
1. Death of a loved one

**Adrian**

Kirova's voice rang through the campus speakers. It had been made final that after school being halted because of the attack that the year would be extended through the summer and the students of St. Vladimir Academy would continue training and classes in an altered schedule for the season. Most of the kids would grumble and argue about losing "their" time, but after everything that had happened most of them weren't ready for the real world. No one was mentally ready to leave, it'd be like sending the kids to their death.

"You think she'll ever come back?" Whispered Lissa Dragomir, the last living Dragomir princess and one of Adrian's only good friends.

"One day..." A name need not be mentioned. It was unspoken rule to never say her name in front of Lissa. It was her best best friend and the girl Adrian fell in love with, too bad she didn't return the feeling. It had been three months since her dissapearance and the days never got any easier. It took two months for the school to be fully restored and it would take forever for the people to recover from the losses. And with Her gone, Lissa was only getting worse.

They kept walking towards the cafeteria for lunch and when Lissa's crazy Ozera boyfriend caught up Adrian detoured and went to the feeding room. But before he even made it to the room he heard two guardians whispering and they looked very distraught. "It was him. Positive ID, I saw the pictures too. Belikov finally got a stake to the heart. Deep shame to lose that guy." Dimitri Belikov had been turned strigoi during the attack, he was the reason She left. She had set out to kill him, She must have succeded, which meant She would be coming back! "But they found her too. She was nearly ripped apart it seemed." No... "Guess that's why she left, he was her mentor, they were close." It couldn't... "She would've been one hell of a guardian. Poor Hathaway. Janine is flying down tonight."

She was gone...

Rose was dead.


	2. Living in darkness

**Rose**

Dimitri was finally dead and I had saved his soul, just like I promised. My mentor and the man I once loved had been turned into a strigoi and it was my duty to kill him, even if it meant leaving my best friend, because I'd be going back to her very soon. But there was a little problem with that plan. I needed to get out of this cave and kill the idiot who chained me up in it.

After leaving the Academy to hunt Dimitri I had left a bloody trail across multiple continents. To him it was a game and I just chased him everywhere he went, killing any strigoi he sent for me or that just got in my way. I got check mate but it earned me a lot of hell with Sydney, an alchemist who was stuck cleaning up my very extreme messes on the other side of the world. Alchemists were humans who knew about the vampire world and were little potion makers that workers that hid our existence. They also really hate us, but I managed to get along with Syd well enough and it was fun watching the vampire bodies dissolve. Also earned myself quite a reputation with the strigoi. I was feared amongst them, the campfire story kind of fear. I was a ghost that killed over a hundred of them and just kept going. But being feared came with being wanted, I was a prize to have on their side and they wanted me. So sweet of them to fight over me.

So there I was staking Dimitri and then sitting in the dirt staring at his body when I get sloppy and snuck up on by a bunch of stinky blood suckers. I felt so sick already I didn't even see it coming. Never let your guard down or you'll end up like me, in a pitch black cave in oregon with no food, water, a way out and a bunch of thirsty vampires waiting for you to crack and give up. They wanted me to willingly join, after torturing me of course.

About two days of torture and sucking my blood went by before anything else happened. I was just starting to accept that I'd in here of starvation or torture when I was no longer the only occupant of the hole. Two moroi boys sat across from me scared out of their minds and jumping at the sound of their own breath. That's when I realized I couldn't die, I had to do my job and keep them alive. It was what I was trained to do my entire life. Damn. They come first. "What are your names?"

At my voice they both jumped. "Damien and and Andrew Zeklos. Who are you?" Said the obvious older of the two.

"Rose Hathaway. And I'm the one who's gonna get you out of here. Any place in particular I should take you?"

Silence for a few moments. The young one who couldn't have been more than 12, Andrew, started to tear. "Our family is dead," answered Damon. "How are you planning on getting us out anyway?"

"I'm working on it."

We seemed to be there forever. Nefretiti and the currently nameless ginger who had captured us fed on us often so I was always in a haze, it took so much power to focus for only a few minutes to talk to the brothers. Andrew was a fire specialist which would definitely come in handy considering what they told me about the battle magic practices they did in secret. Damon was a water guy, which though proved useful in Spokane wasn't helping us anytime soon in the dried out cave.

As memory served, the cave wasn't very big. Voices of our jailers came from many different halls so we knew they were spread out. I watched the opening of our little hole almost every second to try and determine our guard schedule. Two on each side of the opening and one that walked past every 20 minutes. All we needed was some sort of distraction so we could make a run for it. It wasn't far to get out, just blocked.

We waited and brainstormed on all the possibilities but couldn't come up with something I trusted to work. I had to keep them alive and I was going to do it. A week passed and the strigoi became impatient with me. Ginger wanted me to turn, Nefretiti wanted to eat all of us. It was a lose-lose situation and it was coming down on us hard and fast when I heard what would be the sound of an angel. A bird call whistled through the caves echoing off every wall. To anyone else it was just a bird, to me it music to my ears and a sound of safety. "Burn the ropes." I ordered Andrew.

"Why?" They both asked, stunned by my sudden burst. They both stared.

"Do it now." I barked. Andrew hurriedly burned the ropes around my wrists, which hurt, then I untied theirs. "When you see the exit, you run. Get out and don't look back, I'll find you. Do you understand me?" The boys nodded shocked and in fear. I started off towards the entrance of our prison just in time to see a dark figure rush the strigoi and attack. Only the two were there so it didn't take long for us to subdue and stake them. "Go!" I ordered and the four of us ran, following our savior, James. And we weren't met by anyone until we reached the entrance of the cave into the forest.

"Well, well, well. Maybe Nef was right. Should have just eaten you." He and his minions lunged at us. Damon and Andrew split towards the light as ordered leaving James and I to fight. The strigoi were ill trained but strong. One threw me into the wall and went for my neck when his head burst into flame. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Andrew disobeying my order and concentrating on the strigoi. I staked him and mowed through the rest with James. It was just like any other day to us. After staking the last strigoi as James held him to the ground I only caught a glimpse of Ginger disappearing into the dark caves.

We didn't waist any time and ran for the woods where James' jeep was waiting. We piled in. "If you two ever disobey me and do something stupid like that again, I will kill you myself! Don't do it again!" Damon and Andrew just stared at me as I screamed all the different things that could have happened to them. When they were scolded to my liking I turned to James. "How did you know?"

"Rose, you are my obsession. I will find you wherever you go. There's no getting rid of me."


	3. Death is only the begining

**Rose**

James used to be a Guardian but he was like me and didn't like to be told what to do. He had his own life and priorities and soon said fuck the system and started living outside of the dhampir/moroi world. I met him in my travels across Europe. He was a half Italian artist who made it a habit of following me around. At first it was an issue but I got used to him, we became good friends and he turned me into his own little art project. See, at first he just watched me. He would follow me on hunts and kept track of every blood sucked I killed because he's also a tattoo artist. He had this crazy idea to put every molnija mark on my back to show how much I'd done for our world but not just the marks, a huge design of twists and knots and almost living ink covered my back. I earned the marks, mine just look cooler than everyone elses.

He was a great guy to have around. He was one of the strongest and most experienced fighters I'd ever met, and artist, and pretty good looking too. Having him was like having a pitbull, he was loyal to me but would bite anyone's leg off if they got too close.

"Where we going?" James asked after checking out of the motel. We'd taken refuge for the daylight hours to clean up, get food and sleep.

"Court. Gotta get Damon and Andrew help. When we get there we'll figure the rest out."

It took about a week to get the royal court but we made it alive. We rolled up to gate guards an rolled down the windows. They check all our eyes and searched the jeep and of course found nothing suspicious. "Names?"

"Guardian James Maron. This is Rose and Andrew and Damon Zeklos. Their family was slaughtered, found them being held in some caves up in Oregon. Was told to bring them here." Technically, he wasn't lying. He hadn't specifically said my name was Rose Zeklos. And at where I stood in the Queens eyes, I'm not sure they would have let us in if they did know my name.

"Very well. A service for the deceased Dimitri Belikov and Rosemarie Hathaway is currently in progress so you may have a delay. Go ahead on in though. Open the gate!" shouted the guardian as he stepped back and let us pass.

We rolled through and I stared angerly at where the guard used to be. "I am not deceased!" And how the hell would I get a service at court! I'm not dead! "What the hell is going on!"

"Uh... So Rose, I forgot to tell you that the strigoi pretty much faked your death.. They left a decoy body with Belikovs all torn up and stuff so people would think you were dead. I saw them dropping her off, they wanted our kind and theirs to think you were gone...You were there in the caves for 3 weeks. I didn't think anyone would actually find the body... my bad." Enraged, I hit him and his steering veered but he recovered. "I'm sorry!"

"It would have been nice to know that someone faked my death! And sure no one would find the bodies, that worked out soooo well!" We kept arguing and I started noticing people in black outside, there for the service. I could tell cause they were all fancy-like and crying. We parked and got out, avoiding any signs of people and heading straight inside. First we took Damon and Andrew somewhere I knew they'd get help, then James and I headed for the suits. When we got around the last of the people seemed to pile into the huge room and the doubled doors slowly closed shut.

I was late to my own goddamn funeral.

"Okay, you're in trouble, but we're going in." With determination I shoved both doors open causing them to slam into the wall and disrupt the very silent room. Alberta was in the stage speaking when my entrance stopped her and everyone looked towards me. I strutted down the aisle with James right behind me. "You know I was expecting a much bigger crowd. I mean this is thoughtful but I kinda wanted a parade. Looks like someone didn't get the memo."


	4. Home sweet home

**Thanks for the reviews :)**

**Rose**

"Ha-how? Who?.. What in hell is going on?" Stuttered Alberta. I almost smiled, I mean how many people get to crash their own funeral? One by one the guests recognized me and gasped.

I continued making my way to the front, answering "Rose Hathaway, nice to you too Alberta. I guess you guys haven't heard of DNA testing huh? Can't get rid of me that easy now. Ha, you guys got punked by a bunch of strigoi. So where's my best friend?" It was just then that her fragile body slammed into me full force hugging and crying at the same time. She was wearing a simple black dress that I was almost certain she pulled out of my closet. "Hey Liss." I whispered. She was crying too hard to speak. And then my non-existent mother, Adrian, Eddie, Christian and Mia all closed in hugging me and whispering thanks to god that I was alive. I started crying too, everyone was happy but sad at the same time. I'd hurt them by leaving. But I'd make things better...

After I finished giving the official report of exactly why I had been crashing my own funeral and a quick explanation of Dimitri's death there was only a few hours before we would be catching a plane back to Montana. I spent most of it in Lissa's room with her, Christian, Adrian, and Eddie while they questioned James and I about every detail of the three month adventure. At the end of story time, Adrian made a call and just like that he had gotten James' guardianship re-instated and him assigned to our school effective immediately.

It was a long night and I got no sleep, even on the plane Stan and Alberta took their turn plaguing me with more and more questions. "Oh my, I forgot about that!" Alberta exclaimed from the seat ahead of us. "I knew I had forgotten something. Your stuff was moved into storage by request of the princess and your dorm taken. You don't have a room at the moment." She said with her head turned to us looking disappointed in her self. "I'm so sorry I forgot."

"It's ok," I said before she continued. "There has to be an empty dorm somewhere I can crash in right?" I smiled and looked confident but Alberta's disposition stayed.

"Actually with the grades moving around early and transfers, all of the female novice dorms have been full for the first time in years." I gaped, that was un heard of, a dorm building filled with dhampir girls. There were so little of us all around the world that it just wasn't possible. There were always extra rooms, always. "Also the extras are storages for the clutter after the battle. We've gotten an excess of stakes that have filled a room from top to bottom."

"She can sleep in my room for the night," Adrian offered. "I don't have a problem and she needs a place to sleep. I would be honored to," he said practically making it final himself then and there. Before I left I would have made a smartass comment and searched the entire night until I found a different place to sleep but now I really didn't care. I was just too tired to argue with anything that wasn't too drastic.

"Sounds fin as long as I get some Z's before facing the school…again. God I hate dramatic entrances. This is going to be so much fun don't you think." I said with my famous Rose attitude even though it was a little choppy with the lack of sleep.

From ahead Andrew had walked back and was waiting to say something. "We've landed," he said when I stared. "We can get off now," he added with a laugh.

We dispersed, grabbing any items that we had brought (though I had nothing). I leaned on James as he walked out of the plane and he became a very good mobile pillow. Alberta and San took James to the Guardians quarters where he would be introduce to the rest of the staff while Christian kissed Lissa goodbye to show the twins to the male moroi dorms. Lissa left on her own and only Christian and I were left.

"Ready to go little dhampir?" he asked.

"More than." He grabbed my arm and put it around my shoulders for me to lean on him. He led us back to the guest housing on the west of the upper classman side of the campus. If he said something I didn't catch it, I was too bust staring at the home I had returned too. The wrought iron gates, the tiny gardens and courtyards. The feeling of a college campus rather than a high school, the fresh Montana air in the middle of nowhere and the sweet feeling that I was finally safe and I didn't have to look over my shoulder every minute which I had developed a habit of doing outside the academy.

When we got to Adrian's room he flipped on the lights and led me to the back. I had been in his apartments before, but never in his bedroom, if I was ever there which had been very rare, I would be in his living room or his door yelling at him for some reason. The sheets were red silk and the covers were as soft as. The walls were painted with gold and maroon and the desk beside the bed that held a lamp was made of deep mahogany. The room was so simple but so beautiful. On the nightstand was a picture frame, as we got closer I saw that it was a picture of us- Adrian and I- at the ski lodge. It was inside and he was talking to me while I stood and looked annoyed in the lodge lobby. It was a captured moment of the day we first met.

He must have paid someone to find it for him.

He made me sit on the bed and I slid to the top and then under the covers. "Oh how long I've waited for you to be in my bed little dhampir," he said with his big toothy grin.

"I don't have the patience for your jokes tonight. I don't want you to be uncomfortable but if you keep pulling that I'll kick your butt off the bed. Got it?" I yawned on the last sentence.

"Hey this is my bed remember, I offered it to you…And is that an offer to share with me?" He held his hand to his throat pretending to be utterly shocked out of his mind.

"Not if you keep it up," I smiled.

"Well then I'll just have to keep my mouth shut. But then again when have I ever. Sleep little dhampir there will be plenty of time to bug you in the later days. Now we have so much time together. See you in your dreams." He said just before my eyes closed and I drifted into sleep but Adrian's visit was not what surprised me into waking up the next morning, it was the dream that my own mind created while I had been away, one I was definitely not expecting to return.


End file.
